PowerSwitch

Hello there, this is my first post and there's a question I need some third party feedback on.

My situation - I'm a 23 year old (getting on in life ) I live with my parents in our semi-detached house in our pleasant little cul-de-sac in Essex and I am a bit directionless at the moment. The problem I have is that my parents and family refuse to admit there are any problems, my father is too interested in television and my mother is too interested in complaining about the scale of her workload around the house (assisted with 21st century utilities fueled at its source by the black gold.) I'm a bit of a wimp so I can't forcibly demand they heed my commands: therefore I have not been able to persuade them to grow a garden on the back lawn nor install solar panels on the roof. In fact I'm a bit concerned about whether I should be following that route at all.

My question is should I instead be learning survival skills? Not just on locating clear drinking water, being able to hunt etc. but also to be able to know the skills to build tools, weapons etc. out of materials (mainly grass for cordage, wood or stone) which I know I will be able to find if TSHTF e.g. making a woodland hideout shelter out of branches and leaves or a hunting knife out of a stone or wood. I don't think its necessarily in the vein of stone age man or native American tribals but just so I can find a place to hide out whilst the masses vent their anger and frustration.

I can barely win an argument with my female supervisor at work let alone against the envisioned image of the archetypal post-oil raider or bandit so rather than get shot if my humble farm was attacked or seized (I can't determine probability of that because I can't determine how or where society will fracture) I could just escape and use a crutch or two to stand on.

I have three woodlands within half a mile of my home but they aren't extremely big, there are no Fish and no foods except questionable berries or Squirrels. So if I'm forced to hide out there if it gets really bad I may have to keep returning to civilisation every few hours to protest outside Tesco or Costcutters like all the rest of the poor saps! I hopr there are better and larger woods I could sneak off to where I wouldn't be found and where I can stay until business calms down a little (e.g. a few years or so down the line.) So what do you suggest? Should I go into the wild if things get really ugly, should I stay here and turn a semi-detached home into a agraian fortress or become more rounded and nomadic, just walking on foot from place to place, sleeping under the stars?

Finally I'll conclude my ramblings of text with a few final pieces of info, I have a reasonable amount in savings (imaginary money only on a cash machine, no gold or silver except in coins) and I have a degree of physical health and fitness e.g. where I can walk or partly run four miles to work in the morning (and four miles back) at least once a week with very little difficulty (motivation is the biggest factor in whether I can manage it.) Just some additional information to add to the pot.

Thanks for any help!

While any skills are good to have, the modern world is not going to disappear overnight. You need to have lots of practical skills in the world ahead.
Can you fix a bicycle?
Do you know the difference between AC and DC?
Can you work a multimeter?
Can you re-shingle a roof?

Lots of stuff to learn before you get all Ray Mears.

Look out for courses, brush up on your bartering skills, learn, learn learn.
The one thing that can be never taken away is knowledge.

You'll discover that the "lone survivor" meme just doesn't work when you really think about it.

I'd say learn to be useful - be able to help out with practical stuff.

It appears you don't have confidence in your interpersonal skills and you should work on this by getting involved with groups - perhaps find something like a "green gym" near you?

http://www2.btcv.org.uk/display/greengym_join

Welcome.

Not a bad position to be in, really. Clear any debts, buy a camper van, invest in some skills and training and a set of tools and you're good to go.

But your question: woodland/bushcraft/survival skills are a good idea, simply because they will lend you a certain confidence and understanding of your environment. Living off the land post-fall is a fantasy fallacy that some people like to indulge, but having a bit of knowledge that might make you more comfortable if you found yourself stuck outside one night can't hurt. It's also a good intro into the wider prepping scene - bug-out bags, bug-out locations, self-defence, shotgun licence etc.

You've also got a good opportunity to build a more transferable and perhaps profitable set of skills for our long decline. This might include community healthcare eg herbalism, therapeutic massage, acupuncture, as our big box model of healthcare is soon to fail; woodwork; leatherwork/cobbling; electronics (all those solar panels and 12v systems people are going to want fitted); engineering/recycling/repairing stuff; intensive urban food gardening...the list is a long one.

Have a good look through this forum, but check out The ArchDruid Report, Dmitry Orlov, and Ludlow Survivors Group too for more ideas.

All the best

FS

And spend a bit of time checking out the permaculture/ecovillage/intentional community scene too - plenty of likeminded folk and ideas there.

Standuble wrote:
I have three woodlands within half a mile of my home but they aren't extremely big, there are no Fish and no foods except questionable berries or Squirrels.

And fungi. I teach people to forage for wild food if you're interested.

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Standuble wrote:
I have three woodlands within half a mile of my home but they aren't extremely big, there are no Fish and no foods except questionable berries or Squirrels.

And fungi. I teach people to forage for wild food if you're interested.

You might be surprised by the amount and variety of wild food available.

Year's supply of food - you're protected against hunger for a while
A van and/or tent - you're protected against homelessness for a while
A viable & practical self-emploment skill - to protect against unemployment

No reason why you can't buy seeds to plant in you're parent's garden if needed. Same for a modest solar panel and battery.

Bandidoz wrote:It appears you don't have confidence in your interpersonal skills and you should work on this by getting involved with groups

Probably the most important skill. Some people are good at this, others aren't. I'm usually rubbish with people, but my dad's great. He makes everybody and anybody feel comfortably at ease around him. People skills will become more and more vital. So join some group, and meet lots of different people to develop your people skills.

Snailed off wrote:

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Standuble wrote:
I have three woodlands within half a mile of my home but they aren't extremely big, there are no Fish and no foods except questionable berries or Squirrels.

And fungi. I teach people to forage for wild food if you're interested.

You might be surprised by the amount and variety of wild food available.

You're telling me this?

What wild food do you think you know about that I don't?

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Snailed off wrote:

UndercoverElephant wrote: And fungi. I teach people to forage for wild food if you're interested.

You might be surprised by the amount and variety of wild food available.

You're telling me this?

What wild food do you think you know about that I don't?

Sorry. I was only using your quote to respond to the Original Poster that learning about wild foods is a good thing, and that there's more wild food about than you'd think. Didn't mean to imply you need to go on your own course to learn about wild foods.

Snailed off wrote:

Bandidoz wrote:It appears you don't have confidence in your interpersonal skills and you should work on this by getting involved with groups

Probably the most important skill. Some people are good at this, others aren't. I'm usually rubbish with people, but my dad's great. He makes everybody and anybody feel comfortably at ease around him. People skills will become more and more vital. So join some group, and meet lots of different people to develop your people skills.

Personally, I hate the term "people skills". Everybody's personality is different, and lacking "people skills" can sometimes be the price you have to pay for having other abilities.

And in any case, there are different sorts of "people skills". For example, some people are good at superficial banter, but haven't the faintest understanding of deeper emotions, and flounder when they have to handle people who need help.

Personally, I hate the term "people skills". Everybody's personality is different, and lacking "people skills" can sometimes be the price you have to pay for having other abilities.

And in any case, there are different sorts of "people skills". For example, some people are good at superficial banter, but haven't the faintest understanding of deeper emotions, and flounder when they have to handle people who need help.

I agree. 'People skills' is a horrible term. I'm crap at superficial banter but am pretty good (or so I think) at reading people's emotions and what they're thinking. But I couldn't think of a better term.

In the future, self-employment or variants of this will be more and more important as conventional employment opportunities fall. And self-employment means dealing with people in a way which makes them more open/susceptable to whatever your trying to sell. I'm not saying that other types of 'people skills' aren't equally important, but usually a person is either in the introvert or extrovert side of the equation. An introvert would do well to develop their extrovert side and vice versa.

Standuble wrote:Hello there, this is my first post and there's a question I need some third party feedback on.

My situation - I'm a 23 year old (getting on in life ) I live with my parents in our semi-detached house in our pleasant little cul-de-sac in Essex and I am a bit directionless at the moment. The problem I have is that my parents and family refuse to admit there are any problems, my father is too interested in television and my mother is too interested in complaining about the scale of her workload around the house (assisted with 21st century utilities fueled at its source by the black gold.) I'm a bit of a wimp so I can't forcibly demand they heed my commands: therefore I have not been able to persuade them to grow a garden on the back lawn nor install solar panels on the roof. In fact I'm a bit concerned about whether I should be following that route at all.

!

Want to feel better about yourself?
Start pulling your own weight.
Make sure you are doing a full share of every task that needs doing in the house and as your parents have waited on you hand and foot for years your share today ought to be 65 to 75 percent of what needs doing. That includes everything from buying the groceries to cleaning the loo and taking out the trash. Become an equal among adults by acting as one and then they will give your opinions the respect they deserve.
Go camping and learn a few survival skills. No need to die on the first winter day you are out of the house post peak but as was stated above there is no long term survival for the average Joe out in the woods.
Knowledge is good but the grit and determination needed to carry through is even more precious and hard to come by.

vtsnowedin wrote: Want to feel better about yourself?
Start pulling your own weight.
Make sure you are doing a full share of every task that needs doing in the house and as your parents have waited on you hand and foot for years your share today ought to be 65 to 75 percent of what needs doing. That includes everything from buying the groceries to cleaning the loo and taking out the trash. Become an equal among adults by acting as one and then they will give your opinions the respect they deserve.
Go camping and learn a few survival skills. No need to die on the first winter day you are out of the house post peak but as was stated above there is no long term survival for the average Joe out in the woods.
Knowledge is good but the grit and determination needed to carry through is even more precious and hard to come by.

I don't want to knock the OP, whose intentions I'm sure are good, but here in Britain the younger generation are spectacularly lacking in independence. They're coddled by a cushy, undemanding education system that emphasises "self-esteem" over self-improvement, and by self-righteous, over-indulgent parents.

Snailed off wrote:

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Snailed off wrote: You might be surprised by the amount and variety of wild food available.

You're telling me this?

What wild food do you think you know about that I don't?

Sorry. I was only using your quote to respond to the Original Poster that learning about wild foods is a good thing, and that there's more wild food about than you'd think. Didn't mean to imply you need to go on your own course to learn about wild foods.

I didn't think you were implying anything. It was a forum grammar problem.

Snailed off wrote:I'm not saying that other types of 'people skills' aren't equally important, but usually a person is either in the introvert or extrovert side of the equation. An introvert would do well to develop their extrovert side and vice versa.

That amounts to "everybody should be more like everybody else", and although I understand the point you're making, it's not a sentiment that appeals to me. When I was younger I tried desperately to be more extrovert and like everybody else, but it never worked: I just didn't like the person I was trying to be.

Salespeople are born, not made: good ones are able to tread that fine line between manipulativeness and openness - they're able, paradoxically, to establish a relationship of trust in order to serve their own ends. It's a subtle thing, and not down purely to cynical technique: a good salesperson actually likes their clients.

That said, one of the best salesmen in one of my previous companies was a cynical, aggressive bullshitter. I guess he was successful because he was able to home in on the people most responsive to his full-on, macho sales technique, of whom there would have been no shortage in the top echelons of the big telecoms companies we were courting. Most of the engineers in our company were completely immune to his supposed charm. (One thing I like about working with engineers is their cynicism about the more superficial kinds of "people skills".)